#Tech: Twitter Announces “Buy” Button On Mobile

Social media site - Twitter on monday in a blog post announced its first commerce product, a “buy” button that can be embedded in posts to allow users buy online products with a couple of clicks. The feature — initially limited to mobile versions of
Twitter and aimed at selling limited-edition or time-sensitive items like
T-shirts and event tickets — could eventually create a new revenue stream for
the social network, which currently relies on advertising for virtually all of
its income.

The test comes as competition in the world of mobile
e-commerce intensifies. Facebook,
Twitter’s biggest rival, began testing a “buy” button on its service in July.

And even though the test is starting out on mobile, a company spokesperson
said it will be moving onto desktop soon as well. Twitter says it’s partnering with a number of companies to make the Buy Now
button happen, starting social shopping company Fancy, digital content seller
Gumroad, fan commerce company Musictoday, and payments company Stripe. The
initial sellers include musicians (Demi Lovato, Eminem, Pharrell), nonprofits
(Donors Choose, Glide, RED), and retailers (Burberry, The Home Depot).

Gumroad founder and CEO
Sahil Lavingia told me his team has been talking to Twitter about possible
commerce features for more than a year: “It was more like a when, not if,
question for them.” Where Gumroad is involved in these initial purchases,
Lavingia said it’s usually working with musicians (though he wants to go
broader), with Stripe handling the actual payment processing. When you make the
purchase, the interface is supposedly “native on the Twitter client”, so you might
not realize that anyone was involved except Twitter — until you get your
receipt.